Joan, Countess of Kent

http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00007049&tree=LEO

Joan, The Fair Maid of Kent, Countess of Kent, Princess of Wales, Baroness Woodstock and Baroness Wake of Liddell suo iure, Princess of Aquitaine, and Countess of Salisbury.

Joan, Countess of Kent (29 September 1328 – 7 August 1385) is known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent. French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving."

Joan is often identified as the countess of Salisbury who, legend says, inspired Edward III's founding of the Order of the Garter.It is just as possible, though, that that countess was her mother-in-law, Catherine Montacute, Countess of Salisbury.

Titles: Princess of Wales, Princess of Aquitaine, Countess of Salisbury, Countess of Kent, Baroness Wake of Liddell.

Family

• Father: Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent
• Mother: Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell
• Spouses: 1) Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, 2) William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, 3) Edward, Prince of Wales

Issue

1. Edmund Holland
2. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
3. John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter
4. Joan Holland, Duchess of Brittany
5. Maud Holland, Countess of Ligny
6. Edward of Angoulême
7. Richard II of England

Links

• http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISH%20NOBILITY%20MEDIEVAL.htm#J...
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan,_Countess_of_Kent
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p10206.htm#i102052
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=46672269

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http://www.zipworld.com.au/~lnbdds/home/quaker.htm

Joan of Kent was born in 1328 to Edmund of Woodstock Plantagenet, 1st Earl of Kent, son of King Edward I of England, and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. She was the third of four children. Her father, the Earl of Kent, was executed for political reasons when Joan was only a toddler. Her cousin, King Edward III, took responsibility for the family, and brought them to live at the royal court with him.

When Joan was twelve years old, she fell in love with a soldier named Thomas Holland. They married in secret, without the approval of Joan's parents. However, that same year, Thomas was sent overseas to fight in the Hundred Years' War, and that winter, Joan's parents married her to William Montague, son of the 1st Earl of Salisbury. Joan did not disclose her previous marriage to Thomas because she feared that he would be executed for treason.

Several years later, Thomas returned to England and discovered that his wife had been married to another man. Now, Thomas confessed his secret marriage to Joan in the hopes that her marriage to Montague would be declared invalid. When Montague discovered that Joan supported Thomas's case, he became very angry and locked Joan in their home as a prisoner. The marriage between Joan and Montague was eventually annulled in 1349, when Joan was twenty-one. Joan then went to live with Thomas, and the happily reunited couple had several children before Thomas's death in 1360.

Their children were: Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, born 1350; John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, born circa 1352; Joan Holland, born 1356, who married John V, Duke of Brittany; and Maud Holland, born 1359, who married Waleran III of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny. Some sources also list a fifth child, Edmund Holland, born 1354, who died young.

Joan inherited the titles of Countess of Kent and Lady Wake of Liddell in 1352 with the death of the last of her siblings.

Joan's second marriage in 1651 was to her first cousin once removed, Edward the Black Prince, the eldest son of King Edward III. Though their marriage would have been forbidden because they were closely related, Pope Innocent VI intervened and granted a dispensation which allowed the couple to be married.

When Edward was invested Prince of Aquitaine, the couple moved to France, where they had their two children, Edward, born 1365, and Richard, born 1367.

She requested in her will she be buried with her first husband, Sir Thomas, at Grefriars Church, which is now the site of a hospital.

Bio by Charlotte, #47579980

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Kent

Princess Joan, LG, suo jure 4th Countess of Kent, 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell (19 September 1328 – 7 August 1385), known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the first post-conquest Princess of Wales as wife to Edward, the Black Prince, son and heir of King Edward III. Although the French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving", the appellation "Fair Maid of Kent" does not appear to be contemporary.[1] Joan assumed the title of 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother, John, in 1352.

Joan was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell.[2] Her father Edmund was the son of King Edward I and his second wife, Margaret of France, daughter of Philip III of France. Edmund's support of his older half-brother, King Edward II of England, placed him in conflict with the queen, Isabella of France, and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Edmund was executed after Edward II's deposition, and Joan's mother, along with her children, was placed under house arrest in Arundel Castle when Joan was only two years old. Early life

The Earl's widow, Margaret, was left with four children for whom to care. Joan's first cousin, the new King Edward III, took on the responsibility for the family, and looked after them well. His wife, Queen Philippa, was Joan's second cousin. Marriages

In 1340, at the age of twelve, Joan entered into a clandestine marriage with Thomas Holland of Upholland, Lancashire without first gaining the royal consent necessary for couples of their rank.[3] The following winter (1340 or 1341), while Holland was overseas, her family forced her to marry William Montacute, son and heir of the first Earl of Salisbury. Joan later averred that she did not disclose her existing marriage with Thomas Holland because she had been afraid that disclosing it would lead to Thomas's execution for treason upon his return. She may also have become convinced that the earlier marriage was invalid.[4]

Several years later, Thomas Holland returned from the Crusades, having made his fortune, and the full story of his earlier relationship with Joan came out. He appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife and confessed the secret marriage to the king. When the Earl of Salisbury discovered that Joan supported Holland’s case, he kept her a prisoner in her own home.[5] In 1349, Pope Clement VI annulled Joan’s marriage to the Earl and sent her back to Thomas Holland, with whom she lived for the next eleven years. They had four known children (though some sources list five), before Holland died in 1360.[citation needed]

Their children were:

   Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent

   John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter

   Lady Joan Holland (1356–1384), who married John V, Duke of Brittany (1339–1399).

   Lady Maud Holland (1359–1391), who married firstly to Hugh Courtenay and secondly to Waleran III of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny (1355–1415).

   Edmund Holland (c. 1354), who died young. He was buried in the church of Austin Friars, London.[6]

When the last of Joan's siblings died in 1352, she became the 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Lady Wake of Liddell. Descendants of Lady Joan and Thomas Holland include Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of King Henry VII) and queen consorts Anne Neville, Elizabeth of York, and Catherine Parr.[citation n

Princess Joan, LG, suo jure 4th Countess of Kent, 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell (19 September 1328 – 7 August 1385), known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the first post-conquest Princess of Wales as wife to Edward, the Black Prince, son and heir of King Edward III. Although the French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving", the appellation "Fair Maid of Kent" does not appear to be contemporary.[1] Joan assumed the title of 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother, John, in 1352.

In 1340, at the age of twelve, Joan entered into a clandestine marriage with Thomas Holland of Upholland, Lancashire without first gaining the royal consent necessary for couples of their rank.[3] The following winter (1340 or 1341), while Holland was overseas, her family forced her to marry William Montacute, son and heir of the first Earl of Salisbury. Joan later averred that she did not disclose her existing marriage with Thomas Holland because she had been afraid that disclosing it would lead to Thomas's execution for treason upon his return. She may also have become convinced that the earlier marriage was invalid.[4]

Several years later, Thomas Holland returned from the Crusades, having made his fortune, and the full story of his earlier relationship with Joan came out. He appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife and confessed the secret marriage to the king. When the Earl of Salisbury discovered that Joan supported Holland’s case, he kept her a prisoner in her own home.[5] In 1349, Pope Clement VI annulled Joan’s marriage to the Earl and sent her back to Thomas Holland, with whom she lived for the next eleven years. They had four known children (though some sources list five), before Holland died in 1360.[citation needed]